SCIENCE FICTION DYSTOPIAN REVIEW: Red Rising 2: Golden Son - Pierce Brown

Release Date: 24/09/15
Publisher:  Hodder

SYNOPSIS:

Ender's Game meets The Hunger Games in this, the second in an extraordinary trilogy from an incredible new voice.

'I'm still playing games. This is just the deadliest yet.'

Darrow is a rebel forged by tragedy. For years he and his fellow Reds worked the mines, toiling to make the surface of Mars inhabitable. They were, they believed, mankind's last hope. Until Darrow discovered that it was all a lie, and that the Red were nothing more than unwitting slaves to an elitist ruling class, the Golds, who had been living on Mars in luxury for generations.

In RED RISING, Darrow infiltrated Gold society, to fight in secret for a better future for his people. Now fully embedded amongst the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his dangerous work to bring them down from within. It's a journey that will take him further than he's ever been before - but is Darrow truly willing to pay the price that rebellion demands?

A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown's continuing status as one of fiction's most exciting new voices.


REVIEW:

The second book in Pierce’s Red Rising Trilogy and whilst the first burst onto the scene with a massive explosion, for me, the key to whether an author is here to stay or not is how the second book arrives. Firstly is it out within a reasonable time and secondly does it improve on not only what has gone before but also generates a feeling of OMG within the reader due to the sheer quality.

What Pierce brings to the table here is a tale that not only does all that but also allows the characters to not only grow but each work on how their emotions are after the events within the first outing. The writing is solid, delightful prose that keeps you glued alongside well designed characters that have a believeablity about them that really hooks you within its grasp. The pace works wonderfully well and when added to dialogue that just captures the imagination, leaves this as a book that you really don’t want to put down leaving many a reader with the “just one more chapter” feeling.

All round a cracking book that has left me yearning for the final part and one that really has set itself up for one hell of a climax. How the world will turn or change in the final outing is anyone’s guess but at the end of the day part of the fun for me, is imagining how the tale will whirl and finally seeing what conclusions will be reached. I really can’t wait. Thank you Pierce.

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: Red Rising Trilogy 1: Red Rising - Pierce Brown

Release Date: 28/01/14
Publisher:  Hodder

SYNOPSIS:

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left. Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought. Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda. Ender's Game meets The Hunger Games in this, the first in an extraordinary trilogy from an incredible new voice.


REVIEW:

OK, you want something that is not only different but really hits the spot. You also want something new that you’ve never seen before and all wrapped up with a debut author so that you’re not sure what to expect. Sound a little bit too far-fetched to achieve? Well normally I’d say yes, but for me Hodder have pulled a blinder by obtaining what I think could and will be a title to set your standards by with this debut that just blew me away.

What you get within is a hugely complex tale with characters that are not only realistic but make choices that have huge repercussions for all involved be it for good or ill. Add to this a world that feels wonderfully real and one that the reader can step into and lose not only hours within but will also be left emotionally drained upon completion. All in, and whilst this may seem like a wild claim for many but all round, I feel will do for Science Fiction what George RR Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series has done for Fantasy. You really have to read this book this year.